Legalize Marijuana

So, Michael Phelps, that guy who won eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics, the most in human history, was caught on photo in an apparent act of smoking pot.

The photo (which I am not posting here out respect for him) was met by mixed reactions of disappointment, dismay, and puzzlement. For why would a legendary athlete, who has the world on his hands and history on his side, resort to Marijuana?

Michael did not disown the picture and in an admirable fashion atypical of real drug users (like the Philippines’ Alabang Boys), he says:

“I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I’m 23 years old, and despite the successes I have had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner that people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public — it will not happen again.”

In 2001, when master rapper Francis Magalona was arrested by the police for cannabis possession, Philippine Daily Inquirer ace columnist Conrado de Quiros wrote an article pushing for the legalization of Marijuana.

I have never tried using MJ, and I think it is too late to indulge in it as I am past the age of youthful explorations, but I find De Quiros’ arguments sound. And they hold water to this day.

Read on…

LEGALIZE IT

MY heart goes out to Francis Magalona. I’ve always found him to be a nice guy, and I for one would find it a great shame if his arrest, presumably for marijuana use, would ruin his career, or indeed curtail his freedom. I know that other people have been jailed for owning, selling, or using marijuana, and that justice would seem to dictate that they do the same thing to him. Either justice applies to all, or it doesn’t apply at all.

Smoking pot is a crime only because we make it so. Which brings me to my point: I cannot for the life of me imagine why we make it so.

Marijuana is not cocaine, heroin, or opium, which are the chemically manufactured drugs that fry the brain (that is literal, as you’d know if you’ve seen the pictures of the brains of people who have overdosed on them) and induce anti-social behavior. I do buy the idea that they induce people to crime. But including marijuana among the list of dangerous drugs is crazy (in the drug-crazed sense of the word) and merely distracts the law enforcers, such as they can be called that, from throwing their undivided attention to the real menace. Worse, it merely adds another layer to police corruption. The normal victims of marijuana busts are not the Magalona types, they are ordinary people who run into checkpoints and end up with sticks in their wallets or in the compartments of their battered-down cars.

Marijuana in fact belongs to the same category as cigarettes or alcohol. [But] nobody seriously thinks of banning cigarettes or alcohol on the grounds that they are harmful to health or that they produce anti-social behavior.

Arguably, cigarettes and alcohol are far more harmful than marijuana. Cigarettes are infinitely more addictive: make no mistake about it, as doctors and patients with lung cancer from smoking warn, smoking is not a habit, it is an addiction. You cannot smoke two packs of marijuana a day, which is the average consumption of heavy smokers. And alcohol produces far more resolutely anti-social behavior. We do not need to go far to see that: the agony pages, also called the Metro section, is full of stories of people who knife each other to death while drinking gin and cops who shoot up karaoke bars while under the influence of St. Michael. I have yet to know of people who did that while laughing their heads off from the effects of the weed.

We want to ban something, let’s ban guns, not marijuana. Banning guns, quite incidentally looks more and more arduous in the face of opposition by gun-crazed, which is infinitely worse than drug-crazed, congressmen. By all means let us regulate marijuana, the way we regulate alcohol and cigarettes.

I do hope Francis Magalona gets back on his feet and continues to tell the youth to say no to drugs. So he smokes pot: I don’t see the contradiction.

Why do some people fight for the legalization of marijuana although they have no intentions of smoking pot?

CaspianX2 gives an excellent answer:

First they came for the Jews

and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists

and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists

and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left to speak out for me.

He explains…

Just because you aren’t the target of an unfair law doesn’t mean you shouldn’t speak out against it.

I’ve never smoked marijuana, but I know of no reason that marijuana should be illegal while alcohol and tobacco are legal. It is a law created out of racism and fear-mongering, and one perpetuated by myth and misconception. It is a law that disproportionately affects minorities, and ridiculously disproportionately affects the young.

It is a costly law, one that makes criminals out of the innocent, and one that empowers real criminals. The war on drugs is a prohibition, and we saw where that road led during the days of alcohol prohibition.

I stand against this law, not because of how it affects me, but because it is an unjust law.

I have watched the documentary film about the “Golden Triangle” in public tv in the west coast which pertains to the cultivation, distribution and legalization of mj in a controlled environment. The place is in northern Calif- in Napa valley located in Napa County which is very famous in vineyard farmland and wineries.

I have visited the place once and hopped at different wineries for wine tasting expedition- places like the Berringer, Mondavi, Black Stallion and others. My experience is comparable during my college days semestral break spent in Ilocos Norte- hopped places like Bacsil, Vintar and Dingras to taste the local “basi” with “kilawen nga kalding”. The last barrio I have visited was “Sail” where the locals serve the local wine with the “timba” that they used to extract water from the water well.

The legalization of mj in this sector cropped up through proposition which was voted favorably by the local constituents. Local entrepeneurs set up nursery and provide classes for prospective mj growers in the area. The quota was 20 mj-tree per hectare at any given time but growers abuse this qouta most of the time for profit reasons. The expected profit per tree upon maturity of the plant is approx $5K which would rack up $100K every six months before expense. The mj’s are also graded based on its potency ala france “brandy”- the more “aged” it is the more expensive. The ready for use commodity is being auction in the local clearing house thru bidding. The pricing will be dictated through “supply-and-demand” theory of economics which would be comparable to the local growers and traders of “bawang” in Ilocos.

The dispense of medicinal mj in the entire state is thru doctor’s prescription at a regulated quantity. The mj pharmacy is comparable to a sari-sari store where in you have various selections at different price range. The store located in Oakland Calif is owned and operated by an immigrant from Amsterdam- now your eyes starts to roll!! These are legitimated business since they paid their state and feds taxes.

The process is not as simple as “ABC” as noted in the film when you visit the mj growing county when you exposed young kids living within the school district. It is about a question to the parents and educators in the district if they allow this to co-exists with their children. Some residents left the area and others stayed which is individual preference.

My only regrets, as an Ilocano Fil-Am immigrant, is my six-acre land is located in Redding county not in Napa, otherwise, this would make me a potential “landlord”….in retrospect there is a reason for everything.

Hi! Please join our fan page in FB. We are a non-profit organization that aims to responsibly disseminate information on the proper uses and products that can be derived from the Cannabis Sativa plant.

Maybe you should try it. Then maybe you can make a true comment of you experience. Don’t worry, you won’t go to hell. You’ll actually feel the “3 H’s”…Happy, Hungry, Hor__. =) Now, who wouldn’t want that?